By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Student Counseling Services hosted the SMART Sips Screening Event on Feb. 11 in Beeghly Hall. Francine Packard, director of SCS, said the event’s goal was to educate Youngstown State University students to make smart decisions with alcohol.
“SMART Sips, SMART Choices is a collaboration across the campus with different departments to help educate students on how to make smart choices when they are consuming alcohol,” Packard said.
The event was divided into a number of separate stations, and Packard said participants could take an alcohol-screening test with a graduate student in the counseling program.
“One of the stations that we have is a screening event, so they will fill out an alcohol screening [test] with a graduate counseling student and talk about their results,” Packard said. “They’ll get their psychoeducation on the appropriate level of alcohol, what an appropriate drink is and [what] an exaggerated drink is.”
Another station was hosted by AVI Fresh, YSU’s primary food service provider, where Packard said students could try mocktails made specially by AVI Fresh.
“We also have [AVI Fresh] set up, and they have been very generous, and they have created a dirty martini bar for us,” Packard said. “They’re giving away different types of mocktails and different recipe cards on creating alcohol-free drinks.”
Packard said several off-campus agencies were invited to the event, including healthcare provider Meridian HealthCare, to help connect students with more resources.
“We have different agencies on campus today, such as Meridian Services, who offer drug and alcohol treatment if students want to get connected or just learn about the services that they offer,” Packard said.
The Office of the Dean of Students and Campus Recreation hosted two separate stations to inform students about legal substance use and simulate drunk vision.
“We also have the Dean of Students’ office on board today, so they’ll talk about what’s legal and what’s not legal as far as substance use is concerned on campus,” Packard said. “We also have the [Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center], so they’re simulating [a] drunk-alcohol event with drunk alcohol goggles.”
Packard said SCS offers full counseling services to YSU students who are actively enrolled.
“If you want to come in for formal counseling, it’s set up very similar to an outpatient counseling clinic,” Packard said. “You can come in, we’ll do a full diagnostic [and] identify some goals that you want to work on for this semester.”
The SCS office can be found on the third floor of DeBartolo Hall. Those interested in more information or resources can reach out to studentcounseling@ysu.edu or call 330-941-3056.